Trump's United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Recognizable to Observers from China

When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.

But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.

However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.

“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”

The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad